My ideal society would probably look not too different than what you have today in N America, and most of W Europe and parts of Asia. A social democracy of some kind.

But I have no set of rules and guidelines that have to be followed. You can probably get to the same place a thousand different ways, but I doubt if any of those paths is perfect. Every society will have room for improvement.

If I had to distill my ideas about government into one pithy sentence, I would probably have to go with something like this:

The role of government is to protect the population from bullies.

If you want me to further define “bullies”, then I guess I could go with foreign invaders, domestic criminals, and unscrupulous businessmen, not in any particular order.

integrate your idea into how a society ought to be organized.

Should golf be mandatory? Or sailing? Are making one of them mandatory our only two choices?

However, I can understand Tiger’s golf because I feel the same way about sailing that he does about his sport (although I certainly don’t claim a level of expertise comparable to his).

Now golf and sailing have very little in common, but they do resemble each other enormously on the level I am discussing here, that is, how it affects us personally. My relationship to it is comparable to his relationship to golf.

However, a thorough understanding of the rules of golf, or an exhausting study of the art and science of navigation, would reveal nothing about this relationship, the human connection that each activity has to its practitioner.

We’re not talking about sailing or golf, we’re talking about how each relates to the enthusiast. A comparison of the two activities tells you nothing about either of them, which is better, or more worthwhile, or even more important in the great scheme of things.

The relationship of a consciousness to an event or object determines its importance and significance. The universe is subjective. That is not the same thing as saying there is no objective truth at all. What it means is we’re never sure we’re looking at it when we see it, and sometimes we don’t really need it.

Again, I’m speaking metaphorically, don’t get bogged down in the technical details. Let me try another metaphor from a different direction.

As I mentioned just a few days ago, it is possible to navigate ships, construct a calendar, or predict eclipses without knowing the sun is the center of the solar system. It is possible to deal with reality effectively without having an accurate model of it, sometimes, an approximation is perfectly sufficient, at least, for the level of precision required.

This is how our brain is constructed. We are designed by evolution to work pretty effectively (most of the time) even with an imperfect perception of our surroundings. And very often several individuals are equally successful using totally different interpretations of those perceptions.

Sometimes, this rule of thumb fails, and you miss the vital facts you need to survive. But remember, human intelligence is defined as the ability to make the right decision (at least most of the time) when provided with insufficient data.

If you think you need perfect knowledge to do anything you wind up paralyzed into inaction. And if you feel you already have perfect knowledge because you are intrinsically and congenitally equipped to recognize it you will fail spectacularly.

That’s not a reiteration, it’s a new statement.

Everybody agrees golf exists. That is not the issue. The real question is “Does golf matter?” That is not even a valid question.

It matters to Tiger, but not to me. And we’re both right.

The problems start when Tiger Woods starts thinking that his “golf universe” means that every ball in the world must be a golf ball, and that any information to the contrary is just someone else’s opinion.

But I suspect you really don’t grok what I’m getting at.
Look at this metaphor, or analogy, or simile, or model…???

Say you are a golf champion, like Tiger Woods. Golf is very important to you. It is your living, your livelihood, your passion, your hobby. You have devoted an enormous amount of effort and study to your game. The game, particularly winning it, is very important to you, and very real. It is not a silly little game for old guys, it is not a pointless waste of time, it is not a rich man’s pastime, it is not a symbol of the leisure class. To you, winning or losing really does matter. It matters more than anything.

For you, golf is everything, your career, your self-respect, your means of self-actualization, your reputation, your self-image. You love the game, you study its subtleties, honor its institutions, are up-to-date on all its history and progress and issues. And you really enjoy playing the game. It fills you with satisfaction and pride. Golf is the center of your universe. It IS your universe.

To me, and to a lot of people, golf means nothing. Does that mean I’m right? Or wrong? No, it simply is not part of my reality. I have chosen not to make it so. Your devotion and obsession with the game is perfectly legitimate and real for you, as is my indifference to it. For a golf champion, golf is very real, for me, it is a pleasant but expensive walk in the park. I make no value judgements either way, it is simply the difference in how my and your universe is defined. How we have chosen to define our universes.

I’m not saying I can will myself into being a golf champion. That I can use some kind of magic or psychic power into guiding the ball to the cup. I’m saying I can will myself to really care about the game or not. And both my universe and yours are very different, because of all the choices we’ve made.

That is the power of consciousness. It allows us to build the kind of universe we want to live in, BY MAKING CHOICES! It does not guarantee we will be happy or successful in it. But we are not helpless.

And if you don’t understand this, viscerally, you haven’t got a fucking clue as to what is really going on.